Thanks to COVID, I found myself trawling job sites once again looking for work. Although this time around things were a little different. I didn’t want to have months of applying and interviewing again, so I instead looked for work through UpWork at the recommendation of my brother.

For the uninitiated, Upwork is a project and job listings marketplace that lets you find contractual work in a range of industries. Usually, you can find an interesting project in your field, connect with the owner, discuss details and agree on rates and deadlines. Once completing said project, you’re on your merry way several dollars richer never to see that person again. Unless they like your work and want you to stick around!

On Upwork, I found my writing skills very handy and before long I was juggling several technical copywriting jobs. Having come from a language and education writing background, I found myself in the deep end of complex, vast subject matters. But sometimes trial by fire is the best way to learn. In a short space of time, I uncovered some great techniques for writing effective technical copy on a range of expansive concepts. I’d love to share with you what I’ve learnt, and how I’ve applied my prior professional experience to master complex challenges.

Secondly, plan out your article.

Think of the flow of your blog the way you would the flow of an app. In UX, structure and Information Architecture is hugely important.

I found planning my article a vital stage and I can’t recommend it enough. Plan out the direction, jot out all main key points, go from A to B and develop a general flow and outline of what your point is (depending on what your project is). And finally, divide the blog up into titles and subtitles. When it comes time to write you can just fill in these titles and subtitles with good old content. I did it for this blog and it worked a treat! But before you begin writing you need to understand whom you’re writing for.

Thirdly, understand the reader.

A tool from the UX tool kit you can utilise is User Interviews. Speak to your audience. Ask your project owner if they can put you in touch with one or several of your potential readers. It’s better to speak to more than one person, but you don’t want to overdo it. Three or four should be enough. Script a conversation and icebreaker, create a questionnaire and use this opportunity for a multitude of purposes.

Chiefly what you should be trying to do is determine relevance. Understand your readers’ common issues they have surrounding the topic you’re writing on. Are there parts of the topic that several interviewees don’t fully comprehend? Focus on these areas and try to explain processes and concepts in a new light. Use your User Interviewing to strike out or emphasise parts of your article that relate to who your audience is. Your audience is a great resource and they’d be happy to talk to you!

Fourthly, make your writing simple.

Conversation Mining is a UX writer’s tool used to get an insight into and imitate the lingo used in the industry. Using jargon or acronyms is a surefire way of losing a chunk of potential readers. Once you’ve mined your terminology, use a spreadsheet to keep yourself aligned to better manage copy and easy-to-understand terminology throughout your blogs. Swap out complicated words for their simpler counterparts.

This can be a great technique to get new readers on board, and if there are any newbies in the field using your material to get up to speed — it’s best not to use language that will shut them out. Use this step in combination with the last to see some shortfalls that you can write about or topics or subject matter that you can make clearer and more digestible.

Fifthly, Writing is rewriting.

Now that you know the product and the reader, it’s time to let the writer out of the box. Write your article and then go through it time and again editing and reiterating throughout. Make your blog accessible. No one should have to read a supplementary blog just to understand yours. It’s also important that your blog is accessible from a technical and content standpoint, but also, the way you write should be accessible too. Get rid of anything that is not 100% necessary. Trim the fat and get your word count down as much as possible (unless you’re one of those writers who gets paid per word!)

Sixthly, test your blogs.

Find some friends who aren’t familiar with the topic or subject matter of your technical writing and ask them to give your material a read. Get them to read your articles and try to explain the point of thing you wrote. This is a good indication to find out specific areas of the pieces where they couldn’t infer meaning and rework them for clarity.

You can even interview them afterwards and have them highlight particular low points in your work.